Soulcalibur IV demo on Xbox Live

By Robert Purchese Published 22 August, 2008

Yoda well to at least try the game.

Ubisoft has strong-punched a Soulcalibur IV demo onto Xbox Live Marketplace.

The fighting game is already out, of course, but those sitting on the fence can try the beautiful and balanced fourth instalment in this 700MB sampler.

Soulcalibur IV on Xbox 360 is the version that features Yoda as a special playable character. His small proportions make him a pain to pummel, but those of you with both systems can also consider the PS3 version with its playable Darth Vader. Cohhhhhh-chuuuuur.

Head over to our Soulcalibur IV review to find out more.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Thunderhead #1 4 years ago

    This is not the version you are looking for.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #2 4 years ago

    Very nice. I hope the AI really isn't as shit as many people say because I rarely play online.

  • berelain #3 4 years ago

    I hope the blurb there about the game being balanced was sarcasm, I really do. SC4 is one of the least balanced fighters I've ever played... still damn fun, though.

    @ Der_tolle_Emil - no, the AI isnt too bad. Its far better than the I most online players use, who tend to repeatedly spam the same moves with Cervantes, Raphael or Siegfried... you know who you are.

  • kestral #4 4 years ago

    Zero Punctuation doesn't like it but then he never does like anything.

  • brockenheimer #5 4 years ago

    Anyone know if the demo has offline multiplayer?

  • Der_tolle_Emil #6 4 years ago

    I heard that about the move spamming as well but I don't know a single (beat'em up) game where this isn't the case. Although there might be much more in this game than in others.

  • LazyDan #7 4 years ago

    ^Smash Bros. You keep doing the same move and your opponent will laugh and annihilate you.

    Although that kinda sits in its own subgenre with games like Powerstone. SF2 Turbo you couldn't get away with spamming the same move I guess.

    Incidentally, I loooved Soul Calibur 2 and spent ages figuring out the characters and combos... Until my housemate played me and could complete mop the floor with me by using the same move over and over or just mashing the buttons. Since then I decided that this style of fighter is inherrently flawed and hated them ever since.

  • Razz #8 4 years ago

    What a fucking stingy demo. >:I

    Nightmare and Cassandra and a Yoda teaser. I was sititng on the fence about SC4 before now I'm definitely not oging to buy it. Thanks Ubi.
    Edited by 1 at 22/08/08 @ 12:23

  • berelain #9 4 years ago

    @Der_tolle_Emil - Virtua Fighter 5. Try and move spam on that and you'll have your ass handed to you on a silver platter by anyone who even vaguely knows what they're doing. Same goes for Street Fighter against a reasonably skilled opponent.

  • Razz #10 4 years ago

    Anyone know if the demo has offline multiplayer?

    Yep, you only get Knigtmare and v Cassandra thoguh

  • Aysir #11 4 years ago

    @Der_tolle_Emil
    Don't bother with this game is you don't like online. The single player is rubbish compared to SC2 and the massive SC3. The online is the only thing that is new and even then it's rubbish on ranked because all you do is take out noobs who only know three moves.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #12 4 years ago

    @berelain: Of course they lose if they just spam the same thing over and over again but even if you win it's still a boring match :)

  • berelain #13 4 years ago

    @Der_tolle_Emil ah, sorry, misinterpreted what you mean. IN SC4 its quite easy to win by spamming the same move over and over...

  • Der_tolle_Emil #14 4 years ago

    Sorry if I wasn't more clear earlier :) Too bad to hear you can win by spamming the same moves over and over again. But I don't really plan to play this competitively so a few quick bashes against the CPU every now and then are more than fine and maybe online against a few friends so it should be fine.

  • espibara #15 4 years ago

    Jesus all this moaning about button mashers and spammers.

    They may take the fisrt round off me but after that I just fucking kill them. Sometimes its great coming up against spammers and mashers its all about the versatility of woever you are facing. Everyones different.

    I'm a countermove defensive player and I must win 8/10 games I play online on SC:IV.

  • peterfll #16 4 years ago

    Always with you it cannot be done.

  • SeesThroughAll #17 4 years ago

    I was going to buy this game until I realized that Namco is going to charge people an extra to unlock "the other character" when both versions already have both on disc.

    Greedy sods.

  • funkyd #18 4 years ago

    Is it on PSN?

  • Oldern #19 4 years ago

    How nice that some of you state something like "you get away with spamming one move", even if it is not true.
    I have been following all fighting games since the mid-90's, and move-spamming can be always punished in the better half of these games.

    In Soul Calibur IV, you do a just impact to the spammer, get the initiative, and win in the next 8 seconds after doings so. Or let me introduce you the little thing called "recovery". Spam the attack, and a good enemy exploits the hole between your spammed attacks. Or GI it, or sidestep. Or jump up, and hit you with a rising attack.

    Soul Calibur IV IS balanced. If you get mashed by move-spammers online, that proves only that you are yet to learn Soul Calibur IV's fighting system.

  • Aysir #20 4 years ago

    @Oldern
    It's not that it's hard to overcome spammers, it's that it's boring. I levelled up only to rank 20 because 95% of my matches were against Kilik or Cervantes spammers. It was easy enough to beat them after you know their moves, but it's never fun. Player matches and especially player matches against friends are far more fun. The only reason to play ranked is to get the achievement, after that it's simply not worth the boredom.

  • Oldern #21 4 years ago

    Aysir: It is boring, but it is not the game's fault.
    There is no fighting game out there which gives you joy sweets when you kill a button spammer.

    And I found ranked matches frustrating too, because of what you just said: looks like everyone has a custom Kilik prepared for 3-or-below connection matches : )

    But after all, if you know some good players, and play in a non-ranked room, it is one of the best fighting experiences out there.
    So I defended the game, because it is not its fault that many players like to play the cheap way.

  • Oldern #22 4 years ago

    STKD: The A.I is either stupid as you stated, or too hard (Arcade: Apprentice/Algol) for beginners, best thing to do is not to bother with the single-player at all.

  • andywilkie35 #23 4 years ago

    downloaded the demo, really wanted to like it, thought it was shit

  • viper_h #24 4 years ago

    Online is broken.

    I went online with my "main" character, and got my record to something crap like 42 wins 40 defeats. Since then I've decided to play Amy, and spam 3 moves over and over, and now my record is up to 100 wins and 53 defeats. That's absolutely ridiculous, to get such a high record with no skill whatsoever.

    Broken.